Tun Barrel - Illustration

When the Pilgrims sailed to America, ships were measured by the amount of cargo they could carry.  One type of measurement-unit was a "tun." 

A tun was a barrel which typically contained 265 gallons of wine.  The Mayflower was "a bark of one hundred eighty tuns burden."  That meant she could take on a cargo of 180 barrels like the one depicted in this illustration.

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Credits

Illustration of sailors carrying a tun barrel in 1597

By Duane A. Cline, courtesy The Pilgrims & Plymouth Colony: 1620